Sweat Journal

Skateboarding is awesome. You hop on your favorite skateboard and cruise down the streets feeling free and happy. You feel the cool wind on your face, you zone out and focus on the road and there isn’t a care on your mind. It’s just you and your skateboard and all the freedom you need. But did you know that skateboarding is also a great cardio workout? Many fail to see skateboarding as an activity that is also healthy. Fortunately, we are here to change that.

Stamina boost

We still can’t understand people who fail to see how skateboarding is a great way of exercising. Cardio exercises are all about getting your heart rate up and making you sweat. Well, when you hop on the board and start pushing yourself around town or, even better, up a hill, you have to put in a lot of effort. Do that on a daily basis and you will build up your stamina. Oh yeah, you’ll also burn calories. Isn’t that obvious? You rarely see an overweight person cruising on a skateboard.

And even if you don’t want to perform any tricks or do any jumps, it will still be a great exercise. On the other hand, add jumps and tricks and you’ll further boost the effect of the workout. Head down to your local ramp or skateboarding park; you’ll see how those paths are shaped and how high those ramps are. Doing tricks on ramps really requires a lot of speed and good reflexes. And you have to maintain that speed for longer periods of time. When it comes to tricks, you’ll have to squat and then stand up or jump. These moves will further kick up the heart rate and better the effect of cardiovascular exercise.

Performing tricks on a skateboard not only boosts the workout, but also adds a whole new element to it. By doing tricks, you increase coordination and timing. Some may say how these have nothing to do with fitness, but they are quite important for sports. You’ll increase balance and better your reflexes. On top of that, you’ll look awesome doing the tricks you once used to see on TV only. If you want to spice things up even more, you can buy a stylish skateboard that will not only be a reliable board, but will also represent who you are.

Fun & calories

Various studies show that you will burn 500 calories with an hour of skateboarding. Like we’ve said, if you add a few difficult tricks and jumps, that number will rise considerably. To be honest, that is not bad at all for a workout that is also quite fun. Of course, you have to be careful when skateboarding. It is inevitable that you’ll fall, but there isn’t a single skateboarding lover on the globe that hasn’t fallen at least once while riding or doing tricks. But, we are going to instruct you on how to properly start skateboarding in order to minimize your chances of falling.

What you need to do first is put on the helmet and protective gear! Use your lower body to propel yourself and start going. In order to steer, you have to tilt to one side or the other. You’ll immediately feel how your muscles are reacting and how you need to be focused. If you want to brake, you’ll just have to lean backwards and put pressure on the lower part of your skateboard. Skateboarding for 150 minutes a week should be a decent amount of exercise. As you become better at skateboarding, you’ll want to learn more and more tricks and it will just add more fun to the whole experience. Just be careful with it because it’s extremely addictive. Look for skateboarding tricks online, there are tons of them. You’ll also find video tutorials that will teach you how to perform them step by step. And if you fall madly in love with skateboarding, you will even find video games that revolve around it. Skateboarding is more than just an exercise; it is a subculture and a passion of its own.

Skateboarding is awesome; we just have to emphasize that again. Not only is it fun, but it will also do wonders for your body. You’ll get in shape in no time. And you’ll most likely fall in love with it, so you’ll also stay in shape. Just remember, put on the protective gear and buy a good board and you’re ready to roll!

Luke is a fitness and health blogger atRipped.me and a great fan of the gym and a healthy diet. He follows the trends in fitness, gym and healthy life and loves to share his knowledge through useful and informative articles.